By Firelight and Starlight
by Tracy Space Cowgirl
Summary: Charlie keeps watch over Claire's infant son.


**By Firelight and Starlight**

By Tracy ), lunarknightz on LJ  
Characters: Charlie, Claire's son  
Rating: PG-ish, really

Summary: Charlie keeps watch and bonds with Claire's infant son.  
Disclaimer: Not mine. If they were mine, it would be on TV, not your computer.

Author's Note: Only my second LOST attempt. Written after "Raised By Another". Any faults in continuity are my own.

* * *

The stars are usually bright in the sky above the island. There is no electric light or buildings to diminish or block their view. It has become a game between the castaways, to look up in the skies and name the star constellations. Sometimes they can't remember the true names and give the star formations alternate names, such as Sawyer's Ass or Hurley-Mania. Claire has written them all down in her diary, complete with drawings of each.

The stars seem extraordinarily bright to Charlie tonight. As if each is sparkling just a little bit more. As if they knew how special today has been, and as if they too were raising their voices in a joyful hallelujah.

Charlie looks down at the baby in his arms. Claire's son, Kyle, born just a few hours ago. He has his mother's nose, and a covering of light blond hair on his head.

Charlie already loves this baby, this little boy. He marvels in the soft skin, the incredibly tiny fingers and toes. Is this what being a father feels like? Did his father ever feel this way? It's unbelievable to Charlie, that he feels this way. Kyle is not son, but he would beat up anyone who tried to say that he wasn't.

Stories from his childhood run through his memory, stories told over and over again by the Nuns at Charlie's school. There once was another man, who sat and held a child, knowing that the child wasn't his. That man was Joseph, who served as an adoptive father, to Jesus the Lord. You don't hear that much more about Joseph, except that he taught his son what he knew, the trade of carpentry.

Did Joseph sit outside the manger and look up at the sky, not knowing what to make of everything? Did he take his son to see the star that marked the way for wise men?

Kyle starts to cry, and Charlie snuggles the child closer, adjusting the towel that is serving for a baby blanket. Claire needs to sleep, he thinks, and steps away from the fire. Jack is still keeping a close watch over Claire- though the delivery went well enough, it is still a bit risky for her, without the luxuries of a properly staffed hospital.

"Shhhh, little one." He says, walking around the perimeter of the caves. "I know, I know. I don't think you're wet…and you don't smell stinky. Charlie's got you, now. It's okay."

As Charlie walks around the perimeter of the fire, he can't help but think that this child deserves more, more than this island. Kyle needs a home, with walls and a roof. A play pen, and actual toys, not ones that Hurley and Boone have strived to make out of plants and bits of junk from suitcases- not that Kyle's old enough to play with toys, yet. And diapers, real diapers- it will become quite a pain, Charlie thinks to keep the rags clean for diapers, until the kid becomes potty trained. And potty trained? On what? The bathroom section of the plane isn't exactly intact, he thinks.

"Okay, take a deep breath, Charlie" he says to himself. Somehow, they would make it through. Despite terrible odds, they were still alive, and healthy. He'd given up drugs. No one had been killed by a cave in, and whatever monster was out there hadn't exactly shone itself as of yet.

"I'll tell you one thing, Kyle boy. I'll get you out of here. I promise, Charlie does. I'll keep you safe, and I'll always look after you. I'm going to find a way to get you back to the real world- and your mommy too. It's a great place, with this music, all kinds of music, and television, which is a box with little moving pictures in it…" Charlie trailed off as he noticed that the infant had fallen asleep again. "But I guess that's a story for another day."

Charlie moved back to his log by the fire, keeping the baby warm. His mind swirled with possibilities and fears.

Years later, he would honor the promise he made that night under the sky, by firelight and under the canopy of stars on a small island somewhere in the middle of nowhere.


End file.
